European teacher education policies in the ET2010

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“for being too oriented towards the economy and for failing to understand the nature of the university” (Corbett, 2011, p. 40).

The 1993 White Paper on Growth, Competitiveness and Employment, by Jacques Delors, further promoted the idea that investing in knowledge through education and research is necessary for employment, competitiveness and social cohesion. The role of teachers is considered essential towards the new information era. Teachers and teacher training need to use new technologies, while universities can support this process by offering lifelong education, for example retraining primary and secondary school teachers (European Commission, 1993, p. 120). The 1995 White Paper Towards the Learning Society overcame the traditional division between education and training (Pépin, 2007) and acknowledged the transformation that the teaching profession is undergoing as a result of technological advancements and the growing needs of the learning society. New teaching approaches and innovation, validation of non-formal competences, second chance schools, recruitment of the

“best teachers”, and mobility opportunities are the main recurring themes attached to the interests of lifelong learning (European Commission, 1995).

The growing significance of lifelong learning for a knowledge society was further promoted by choosing 1996 as the European Year of Lifelong Learning and was given constitutional status with the 1997 Amsterdam Treaty, stating that the Community is

“determined to promote the development of the highest possible level of knowledge for their peoples through a wide access to education and through its continuous updating” (Treaty of Amsterdam, 1997, p. 24). With the Agenda 2000, the Community proposed to make policies that foster the knowledge society, consisting in innovation, research, education and training, one of the four fundamental pillars of the Union’s internal policies, a theme that was taken up by the Directorate-General Education with the 1997 Communication Towards a Europe of Knowledge and suggested possible Community actions for the period between 2000 and 2006.

Although higher education and particularly teacher training were left aside, the Europe of Knowledge envisaged mobility of teachers in the European education area (European Commission, 1997, p. 4). It further promoted the provision of competences that citizens needed.

80 Council proposed a series of measures under the umbrella framework of lifelong learning. With regard to teachers, the measures include: improving teachers’ skills in the use of internet and multimedia resources; removing obstacles for the mobility of teachers; and attracting high quality teachers.

As a follow-up to the Lisbon agenda, education ministers in 2002 agreed to implement the ET2010 using the new cooperation approach of the OMC, but respecting subsidiarity. A common set of objectives was defined in order to support three strategic goals to be accomplished until 2010: improving the quality and effectiveness of education and training in the EU, facilitating their access for all, and opening up to the wider world (Council of the European Union, 2002). Teacher education received particular attention, as it became the first objective for improving the quality and effectiveness of education. Teachers play a central role in the knowledge society, and therefore “attracting and retaining qualified and motivated people in the teaching profession, which is faced with massive recruitment needs due to the ageing of the teaching population” became a priority for Europe, while the skills which teachers must have were considered a topic that needed to receive general consensus within the Community (ibid., p. 7). The following key issues to improve the education for teachers and trainers were mentioned:

1. identifying the skills that teachers and trainers should have, given their changing roles in knowledge society;

2. providing the conditions which adequately support teachers and trainers as they respond to the challenges of the knowledge society, including through initial and in-service training in the perspective of lifelong learning;

3. securing a sufficient level of entry to the teaching profession, across all subjects and levels, as well as providing for the long-term needs of the profession by making teaching and training even more attractive;

4. attracting recruits to teaching and training who have professional experience in other fields (ibid., p. 7)

According to these issues, the Council defined indicators for measuring progress and themes for exchanging experience, good practice, and peer review. Although teaching was not yet explicitly connected with improved student performance, teacher policy issues focused on teacher supply due to the expected shortage of teachers in Europe. Europeanisation in teacher and teacher education policy, similarly to the other education policy areas, was linked to indicators and benchmarks, as well as joint policy action through the OMC.

Following the recommendations of the Kok report in 2004 and the first progress report of the working group on teacher education in 2003, the Council and the Commission, in a joint interim report, raised the issue of the competences and qualifications needed by teachers as a

“matter of priority” (Council of the European Union & European Commission, 2004, p. 11).

The specific report is important because it identified the teaching profession as one of the main change agents for the realisation of the Lisbon objectives (Kotthoff & Denk, 2007) and promoted the idea of developing common European references and principles for teachers’

competences that could support national policies. The report recognised also that ITE is not yet an integral part of the Bologna process and the EHEA. Therefore, it proposed a strategy for developing indicators for the professional development of teachers, as a first step to link teacher education with the Bologna process (ibid.).

In 2005, the draft document Common European Principles for Teacher Competences and Qualifications was adopted in a Brussels conference. The document linked the quality of education and training directly to the quality of teacher education, acknowledging that teachers

81 are “key players in how education systems evolve and in the implementation of the reforms which can make the European Union the highest performing knowledge-driven economy in the world by 2010” (European Commission, 2005, p. 1). Furthermore, it defined the following European principles for the teaching profession as an impetus for developing policies: a well qualified profession; a profession within the context of lifelong learning; a mobile profession;

and a profession based on partnership (ibid, pp. 2-3).

The recommendation document also specified “key-competences” which European teachers should acquire, meaning the abilities to “work with knowledge, technology and information”, “work with fellow human beings” and “work with and in society” (ibid, pp. 3-4). These transversal and rather abstract competences leave room for interpretation and are underpinned by the lifelong learning paradigm of the Lisbon agenda. This means that teachers are expected to develop such competences throughout the continuum of their professional lives and that teachers’ qualifications should be integrated within the EQF (ibid). The specific document served as a reference point for further developments both in Member States and at a European level (Holdsworth, 2010).

2007-2010: Improving teacher education for better learning outcomes

A growing interest with regard to teacher education and a stronger emphasis towards the notion of teacher quality supported by evidence can be observed in EU policy documents following the 2007 Communication on Improving the Quality of Teacher Education. The latter linked the quality of teachers to students’ in-school performance, using evidence produced by educational experts and the OECD. During this period, a trend towards more evidence-based policymaking could be observed (Holdsworth, 2010, p. 45) and studies such as the 2005 OECD report and the 2007 Barber and Mourshed report shifted the perception of the role of school and teachers towards achieving high quality education outcomes (Vidović & Domović, 2014).

Individualised and autonomous learning, formative assessment, reflective practice, student outcomes, and competences were some of the recurring themes in the above mentioned studies, which received increasing relevance in European policy discourse from that point in time onwards. Several Member States were employing relevant practices that were made visible through the OMC working groups and in this way knowledge from Member States was uploaded to the European level. Operating as “epistemic communities”, the working groups brought in evidence from Member States and legitimised certain policy initiatives contributing to the conceptual dimension of Europeanisation in teacher education, as depicted by the analysis that follows (Interview, EPE-13).

Specifically, through the 2007 Communication, European policy actors recognised that teacher education plays a crucial role for the quality of teaching, which in turn is key for the EU in order to “increase its competiveness in the globalised world” (European Commission, 2007, p. 3). Teacher education is framed by the complex demands placed upon teachers in a constantly changing world in which students are coming from diverse backgrounds and have different levels of skills. Students are increasingly expected to become autonomous learners and receive responsibility of their own learning, “by acquiring key skills” (ibid., p. 4). These challenges were seen as hastening the need for a competence-based approach to teaching and a greater emphasis on learning outcomes (Council of the European Union, 2007). In this context, it became increasingly evident and accepted that ITE is not enough to equip teachers with the necessary knowledge and skills for a lifetime of teaching.

Intertwined with the idea of lifelong learning, the education and professional development of teachers was seen as a lifelong learning task which needs to be structured and funded accordingly, so that teachers can develop continuously. The continuum of teacher professional development started to appear as central in improving the quality of teacher

82 education. Specifically, it was defined as “a seamless continuum of provision embracing initial teacher education, induction into the profession, and career-long continuing professional development that includes formal, informal and non-formal learning opportunities” (European Commission, 2007, p. 12). In concrete policy suggestions, the continuum translated as follows:

(a) teachers should take part in effective induction programmes during the first three years in the profession; (b) have access to structured guidance and mentoring by experienced teachers or other professionals throughout their careers; and (c) take part in regular discussions regarding their professional development within the context of their institution’s development plan (ibid, p. 13).

The Commission’s recommendations were endorsed by the Council which highlighted the need to take measures for improving teacher education at national level (Council of the European Union, 2007). The Council further requested that teachers hold a qualification from a higher education institution, receiving adequate balance between research-based studies and teaching practice, as well as between specialist subject knowledge and pedagogical skills (ibid, p. 8). Member States were also asked to provide a “coordinated, coherent, adequately resourced and quality assured” continuum of professional development for teachers, and to “consider the adoption of measures aimed at raising the level of qualifications and the degree of practical experience requirement for employment as a teacher” (ibid, p. 8). As in previous Council Conclusions, suggestions were made towards partnerships between teacher education institutions and schools, teacher competences and professional mobility opportunities.

The continuing efforts of the Commission and the Council to promote policy cooperation in teacher education are evident in two Council Conclusions that followed the one in 2007. In 2008, the Council emphasised the need “to promote teaching as a profession and to improve initial and in-service training for teaching staff and school leaders” (Council of the European Union, 2008, p. 4), as one out of three priorities for European cooperation on school education. Specifically, the Council invited Member States to focus cooperation on enhancing the attractiveness of the teaching profession, on enabling beginning teachers to benefit from early career support programmes, on improving the supply, quality and take-up of CPD programmes, on reviewing teacher recruitment, placement, retention and mobility policies, on expanding opportunities for professional mobility, and on improving the recruitment and training of school leaders (ibid, p. 6).

In 2009, the Council reaffirmed that “the knowledge, skills and commitment of teachers, as well as the quality of school leadership, are the most important factors in achieving high quality educational outcomes” (Council of the European Union, 2009, p. 4). Once again, the Council included teacher education within the context of lifelong learning, promoting the idea that “education and development of teachers should be a coherent continuum spanning initial teacher education (with a strong practical component), induction and continuing professional development” (ibid, p. 6). Therefore, the Council invited Member States to ensure that they attract and retain the best candidates for the teaching profession, make appropriate provision for induction programmes offering both personal and professional support, provide regular reviews of teachers’ CPD needs, promote mobility programmes, review the responsibility of school leaders towards shaping the teaching and learning and thus reducing their administrative workload, and ensure that high quality provision exists to develop teachers’

competences (ibid, p. 7).